American Forests

WeWood Watches: A Tree for Every Watch

American Forests’ Matthew Boyer (second from left) teamed up with WeWood staff, including Daniele Guidi (third from left), president and CEO of WeWood’s parent company Lever Your Business, for a day reforesting an area damaged by wildfire.

American Forests has been partnering with wooden watchmaker WeWood for more than two years and during that time we have planted 56,000 trees together, including sugar pines and other conifer species, in a variety of habitats. WeWood has done more than just plant trees with us, though. They’ve also helped us tell these forests’ stories. If you want to get a sense of what it’s like to be out in the field, reforesting an ecosystem ravaged by wildfire, look no further than WeWood’s 2013 video depicting a day of planting at one of our project sites.

Between 2003 and 2007, a series of wildfires destroyed forests in the San Bernadino Mountains of California. American Forests and WeWood are helping to rebuild those destroyed forests through our 2013 Mountain Communities Wildfire ReLeaf Project. Joined by the Mojave Desert Resource Conservation District and other partners, we’re planting 25,000 Jeffrey, sugar, ponderosa and Coulter pines across more than 500 acres. The video depicts a typical day of planting around 1,000 seedlings — on this particular day, Jeffrey pine — with the help of volunteers. Watch the story unfold at www.youtube.com/WeWOODUSA.

WeWood’s support of American Forests is not limited to the Mountain Communities Wildfire ReLeaf Project, however. With support from the U.S. Forest Service, American Forests and WeWood are also replanting areas of Angeles National Forest that have been damaged by wildfires, restoring critical habitat for the California spotted owl and other threatened, endangered or sensitive plant and animal species.

WeWood also partnered with us to restore areas of Klamath National Forest in northwestern California severely affected by the Elk Complex Fire. The project is providing multiple benefits to local watersheds, scenery, recreation and wildlife, including habitat for threatened and endangered species such as Coho and Chinook salmon and steelhead trout.

Over the last decade, conifers in Los Padres National Forest have been in decline and, more recently, have been affected by wildfires. WeWood is helping us restore the region by contributing some of the 135,000 trees we’re planting in areas that were overcome by the 2006 Day Fire and the 2007 Zaca Fire, which burned through southern California.

We’re glad to continue our partnership with WeWood this year, planting a tree for every watch sold.